In 1978, journalists Bruce Hight and David Frink collaborated on seven stories in the Austin American-Statesman, published every day for seven days between May 8 – 14. The title of the series was “Downtown: On the Brink,” and this week of warnings told the story of a declining downtown Austin — highlighting both the early…

Earlier this month, a former mayor of San Luis Obispo, California, wrote a letter to the editor of that town’s newspaper in which he felt it perfectly acceptable and cool to describe a proposed bikeway as a “gigantic urban rape.” “Yes, rape!” Ken Schwartz wrote before graciously elaborating, “No other word would be proper. The rape will not…

Cambridge Tower, a 15-story residential building at 1801 Lavaca Street near West Campus, was downtown Austin’s tallest apartment tower when it first opened in 1965. Though you might not give the building much thought now, the innovations of its time were significant — with an assortment of amenities for its residents including restaurants on the…

Here’s a bold prediction for you — we’re going to get more residential towers in downtown Austin. When you follow this stuff, sometimes you come across buildings in the early stages of development that aren’t even far enough along in their design process for plans to exist, and those are the hard ones to write…

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer building, but it appears downtown Austin’s first implosion in more than 11 years will take place at Block 71’s Ashbel Smith Hall tower sometime this spring. We’ve been hunting for answers since December of last year, when various permits were filed with the city for demolition at the site, a 1.75-acre downtown block…

Q: Have you seen the concrete “moonscape” located at the corner of Fifth and Bowie Streets? What’s actually going on here? A: Many people have asked me if this is some kind of art project, or has something to do with the building next door. Okay, bear with me for a second — in April…